RATIONALE: Controlled mechanical ventilation is used to deliver lung-protective ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Despite recognized benefits, such as preserved diaphragm activity, partial support ventilation modes may be incompatible with lung-protective ventilation due to high Vt and high transpulmonary pressure. As an alternative to high-dose sedatives and controlled mechanical ventilation, pharmacologically induced neuromechanical uncoupling of the diaphragm should facilitate lung-protective ventilation under partial support modes.

METHODS: In a proof-of-concept study, we enrolled 10 patients with lung injury and a Vt greater than 8 ml/kg under pressure support ventilation (PSV) and under sedation. After baseline measurements, rocuronium administration was titrated to a target Vt of 6 ml/kg during neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA). Thereafter, patients were ventilated in PSV and NAVA under continuous rocuronium infusion for 2 hours. Respiratory parameters, hemodynamic parameters, and blood gas values were measured.

RATIONALE: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections and hospitalizations in infants worldwide. Known risk factors, however, incompletely explain the variability of RSV disease severity, especially among healthy children. We postulate that the severity of RSV infection is influenced by modulation of the host immune response by the local bacterial ecosystem.

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether specific nasopharyngeal microbiota (clusters) are associated with distinct host transcriptome profiles and disease severity in children less than 2 years of age with RSV infection.

METHODS: We characterized the nasopharyngeal microbiota profiles of young children with mild and severe RSV disease and healthy children by 16S-rRNA sequencing. In parallel, using multivariable models, we analyzed whole-blood transcriptome profiles to study the relationship between microbial community composition, the RSV-induced host transcriptional response, and clinical disease severity.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified five nasopharyngeal microbiota clusters characterized by enrichment of either Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium, Moraxella, or Staphylococcus aureus. RSV infection and RSV hospitalization were positively associated with H. influenzae and Streptococcus and negatively associated with S. aureus abundance, independent of age. Children with RSV showed overexpression of IFN-related genes, independent of the microbiota cluster. In addition, transcriptome profiles of children with RSV infection and H. influenzae- and Streptococcus-dominated microbiota were characterized by greater overexpression of genes linked to Toll-like receptor and by neutrophil and macrophage activation and signaling.

RATIONALE: Vitamin D and its metabolites have potent immunomodulatory effects in vitro, including up-regulation of cathelicidin, a critical antimicrobial protein.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether administration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitriol) to critically ill patients with sepsis would have beneficial effects on markers of innate immunity, inflammation, and kidney injury.

CONCLUSIONS: Calcitriol administration did not increase plasma cathelicidin protein levels in critically ill patients with sepsis and had mixed effects on other immunomodulatory markers. Additional phase II trials investigating the dose and timing of calcitriol as a therapeutic agent in specific sepsis phenotypes may be warranted. Clinical trial registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 01689441).